Our Strategic Goals:

• Set up the environment as the third teacher, saturated with literacy, to make valued learning visible

• Improve student achievement for writing at Y6 and Y10

• Clear understanding across the Kāhui Ako about how to improve student writing levels

• Consistent understanding across the Kāhui Ako of writing curriculum levels.

So What Next?

• Scoping and scanning to identify areas of concern and develop strategy using evidence-based theory

• Developing a clear understanding across the Kāhui Ako about the pedagogical practices that can significantly improve student achievement levels of writing

• Developing teacher knowledge and skills for writing, surface and deep features.

• Creating a shared rubric based on the literacy learning progressions

• Investigating student dispositions & attitudes towards writing

A focus on writing and features contributions from some of the leaders in the field, including Dr Virginia Berninger from the University of Washington, Dr Vincent Connelly from Oxford Brookes University and Dr Steve Graham from Arizona State University. These researchers take the view that writing is hard to teach and learn.

Articles on contents page to the left, click the 'Bulletin' cover page to view link.

Practice: Early literacy in the classroom

This resource provides examples of how the principles of effective literacy instruction in early primary school can be enacted in the classroom. It is not a programme of literacy instruction, nor does it provide a recipe to simply follow. Rather, it demonstrates the range of instructional activities and approaches that make up high-quality literacy instruction and the different ways that these can be employed in New Zealand primary schools.